It’s Time to Grow. No Excuses.

Monday, January 28, 2013

What’s one of the surest ways to make the economy grow and combat income inequality? You probably guessed it: Unions.

“Last week, the government reported that the unionized share of the U.S. workforce dropped again, to a 97-year low. The percentage of organized workers in the private sector dropped to just 6.6 percent. This is not because most workers don't want a union. It's because enforcement of the Wagner Act (guaranteeing the right to join a union) is so weak that workers know that if they try to organize a union, they risk getting fired. President Obama has promised to fight Republican obstructionism through the use of his executive powers. He signed 23 executive orders to reduce gun violence. How about an executive order like the ones President Roosevelt issued barring any company that violates the Wagner Act from bidding on a federal contract?”-Robert Kuttner

“If you care about deficits, you should want our economy to grow faster. If you care about lifting up the poor and reducing unemployment, you should want our economy to grow faster. And if you are a committed capitalist and hope to make more money, you should want our economy to grow faster.”

There is just no excuse anymore; we need to revive the middle class. We constantly hear that if the wealthiest get more tax cuts and higher earnings, they will create jobs and the wealth will “trickle down” to the rest of us. How then can Wall Street and the 1% be doing better than ever while the middle class can barely stay afloat? In fact, the world’s 100 richest people could end global poverty 4 times over, so why is it they can’t create jobs in the U.S.?

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The great American middle class wasn’t something that just happened – it was built brick by brick. It was built by soldiers returning from war and a government that repaid them by giving them a shot at college.

What the wealthy and well-connected figured out is that they have strength in numbers: the numbers of dollars they contribute to politicians. It’s time working and middle class Americans use our strength in numbers to reclaim the American Dream. We need a counterweight to the power of big money – and that’s the power of big numbers, the power of ordinary people who work for a living demanding to have our voices heard – from the workplace to Washington.